High RPMs and chugging?

2001 BUICK LESABRE
200,000 MILES • 6 CYL • 2WD • AUTOMATIC
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AMYWAZ
  • MEMBER
  • 1 POST
I just bought the car listed above and I unfortunately bought it without driving it on the highway. So, when I finally did, it shifted from the first gear smoothly into the second gear then when I hit about 40 when you'd expect the next shift, it never did. It just kept revving up and pins at around 4000 rpm at 60-65 MPH, it sounds like I'm going to blow up the engine. Then after I have driven it like that for about 30 minutes, which is how far away my work is, I'll turn it off, then when I start it back up even 4-5 hours later it chugs really bad until I hit about 35mph then it smooths out, but the rpm issue remains. Do these cars only shift twice and is it normal to run at such a high rpm? Also, the guava screen on the left-hand side is all garbled, looks like Chinese, and has never shown anything correct on it, neither has the gas gauge, it just shoots up to full then teeters back and forth. What's wrong with this car?
Nov 12, 2024 at 1:31 AM
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STRAILER
  • CAR REPAIR CONTRIBUTOR
  • 54,189 POSTS
It sounds like catalytic converter is clogged up, to be sure let us this guide to find out if that is the issue.

https://www.2carpros.com/articles/how-to-test-a-catalytic-converter

Here is the location of the cat so you can check it out. We should run the codes as well.

https://www.2carpros.com/articles/checking-a-service-engine-soon-or-check-engine-light-on-or-flashing

Check out the images (below). Please let us know what happens.
Nov 12, 2024 at 4:50 PM
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